


Not a Big Deal

by LivingOutLoud



Series: Your Name on My Skin [8]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, and Bones' dirty mind, but mentions of sexy things, no actual sexual scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-09-06 09:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8743675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LivingOutLoud/pseuds/LivingOutLoud
Summary: it's Pavel's 25th Birthday, and everyone's come up with their own plan of how to celebrate, including one giant mistake McCoy didn't plan, but can't forget.





	

Chekov had told everyone he didn’t want a big deal for his twenty-fifth birthday. He’d told the captain twice, in fact. McCoy had been there when he mentioned it the second time. He’d already planned it out, he wanted a small quiet dinner with Sulu, like they used to back in Starfleet, followed by Leonard and him having their usual movie night, no presents, no cake, no fuss. That’s what Chekov had asked for.

So, that’s why Bones felt nothing but exasperation when James T. Kirk, party boy extraordinaire, called him into the captain’s ready room and told him he needed to be in the dining room at six and wearing something nice.

“You know Pavel doesn’t want a party, right?” McCoy said.

“I know that’s what he said.” Kirk smirked.

“But-“

“But I know what he really wants.” Jim slapped Bones on the shoulder when he gave a grimace. “He’s not like you, Bones, Chekov doesn’t want to sit around and mope on his birthday, he wants to have fun!”

“And he’s not like you, where his idea of fun is limited to loud trashy music and way too much beer.” McCoy sighed, I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?”

“See you at six!”

 

Pavel and Hikaru were in the middle of their dinner in the mess hall when Leonard arrived five minutes to six and took a seat at their table.

“Leonard, I thought we weren’t meeting until seven.” Pavel said.

Sulu looked the doctor up and down, noting the white collared shirt over his black under-shirt, the dress shoes he wore instead of the usual loafers (one step from slippers) he wore in his time off, and let out a huff of disappointment. He was certainly over-dressed, next to Hikaru who had only taken off his yellow shirt, still wearing his black undershirt. Chekov had just thrown his yellow and pink fair isle sweater over his uniform and changed into running shoes, his usual lounging around wear.

“In my defence, I tried real hard to convince him not to do this.” Leonard said to the two men.

“Who’s doing what?” Pavel asked.

“He told me he wasn’t going to.” Sulu sighed. “Kirk said, and I quote, ‘I give you my word.’”

“Sulu, don’t you know already, the captain’s word means jack shit.”

“Will one of you tell me what’s going on?” Pavel spoke up.

Which is when Uhura started singing happy birthday, following Kirk carrying a giant cake toward their table. Everyone else who Pavel had assumed were minding their own damned business in the mess hall now stood up and started singing along.

Bones grimaced at the parade approaching him, and he only got more annoyed when he looked back to Pavel who was taking a moment to relax before turning on his wide, toothy, dealing with superior officer’s smiles. The kid was good at pretending, Leonard had to give him that. It had taken a full six months of seeing Chekov’s real smile to tell when he was faking it, and boy was he good at faking it. It was probably half of Chekov’s problem. If he stood up for himself, got a little mad once in a while, maybe Kirk and Spock and Scotty and everyone else who enjoyed talking him into drinks or scientific arguments, or extra work wouldn’t do it so damned much. Christ on a bicycle, it made Bones want to stand up and start shouting for him, but then Chekov turned those big blue eyes on him and raised his eyebrows in that way he had. The one that meant ‘for the love of god, don’t make a scene,’ and Bones had to sit back and let the party happen.

Everyone crowded around the table and Kirk practically landed in Bones’ lap, trying to get the huge cake in front of Chekov and all 25 candles lit. Chekov blew them out as everyone sang happy birthday and clapped. He tried to wave off a piece, and Kirk eventually forced him to have a little sliver. The music started up, and was horrible, of course it was horrible, Uhura and Kirk were in charge of it, though Pavel seemed to at least not mind it. People broke off again into their original smaller groups, after grabbing cake and wishing Chekov all the best. Some danced, some went back to their card games, some just stood and mingled. Sulu and McCoy both let out a sigh, and their eyes met. Maybe Jim’s hair-brain scheme wouldn’t be unbearable this time. McCoy ate a forkful of his cake and by god, it was actually tasty. A short and sweet get together wouldn’t be bad, and Pavel could get back to his original plan soon enough.

That’s what McCoy was thinking when Kirk dragged Chekov out of his seat, saying something about how it was the captain’s privilege to get the first dance. Bones was about to say something cynical about Jim being inappropriate, then Chekov turned that smile to him.

“Lyonya, please, it’s fine, really.”

Jim’s eyebrows shot up at the nickname, which just made Bones blush. Pavel had called him that a few times, either when they were drinking or alone in McCoy’s room, watching something, but he had no idea what it meant. He hoped Jim didn’t know something he didn’t.

McCoy sat eating his cake, and watching Jim lead Chekov around by the waist, the leutenant’s arms draped around his captain’s shoulders, but seemed to be smiling genuinely now.

“Well there goes that plan.” Sulu muttered to McCoy.

“A couple of dances won’t hurt him.” McCoy said, “We’ll just have to think of an excuse to let him escape when he wants to.”

Hikaru smiled and nodded. He got up to dance with Chekov when Jim was done, and McCoy watched the two of them chatting while they moved to the music. Good, the two of them would come up with a contingency plan. Meanwhile, Bones started in on a larger sliver of cake, and happily accepted some whiskey and a chat with Scotty when he came around.

An hour in, the kid had danced with Christine, Yeomen Rand, Kirk again, Sulu again, then on his way back to the table he was swept up by Uhura. Finally, he collapsed on the seat next to Bones, smiling and sweating a little.

“Have you been sitting here moping the whole time? You could have come to dance.”

“I don’t dance.” Bones stated, “and I wasn’t moping, I was eating all the cake.”

“Anyway,” Chekov smiled and him, leaning in. “Hikaru has a plan to get me and him out of here. You sneak out and grab the movie from my room, I’ll meet you at yours shortly.”

“Right. Where’s is it in your room.”

“It’s on my night stand, on the right hand side.”

“Got it, see you soon.”

McCoy got up and walked toward the exit, as Chekov walked back into the crowd to find Sulu. The only resistance he got on his way out was Scotty.

“Running away so soon?” He called.

“Sure as hell am.” Bones grinned. “And Jim knows damned well this is the longest I’ve ever stayed at one of his parties, so he’s got nothing to complain about.”

“Good luck with that argument, better run before he sees you.” Scotty smirked.

Bones took that as his sign to slip out, breathing a sigh of relief when the doors closed behind him. McCoy only realized how loud the music had been when it was suddenly silent around him. He breathed a sigh of relief and made his way down to Chekov’s quarters.

He opened the lieutenant’s quarters with his medical code, something Chekov had never voiced a complaint about, not that McCoy ever came in unless Chekov had invited him, or wanted him to grab something. He took a moment to look around the room, something he rarely got to do when he was in a hurry, or when Chekov was there with him. It never ceased to amaze him how neat the kid was, how uncluttered and streamlined everything looked. Though, maybe that was because he had so little stuff. Granted, the room was small, much smaller than his or Jim’s. There was a small desk with a chair against the wall, next to a small closet. The door to his single bathroom was along the other wall, and the bed was in the middle. On his desk was his computer, his PAD, his lamp, his phaser, a pad of graph paper Bones knew he liked to sketch out ideas and equations on. The one shelf above his desk held a stack of discs and one shoebox, where Chekov hid away various wires, and pieces of technology he was tinkering with.

McCoy noticed the birthday card he’d slid under the door that morning standing on the left bedside table, next to a dozen or so others. It was technically a postcard from McCoy’s collection, the ones he collected every time he went somewhere pretty or relaxing, or to a planet that didn’t end in someone dying. This one was from Georgia, showing a sunrise over a field. McCoy had just written Happy Birthday, and signed his name, but he had taken the time to copy out the script on his arm as closely as he could, trying to get Pavel’s name correct in the Russian alphabet.

The only photo frame in the whole room sat on his right bedside table, next to the lamp and a separate PAD Pavel used solely for recreational reading or watching videos. The pictures on the photo frame changed and looped around again quickly. There was a portrait picture of his mother, copies of his three degrees, and his Starfleet certification, a photo of him and Sulu on top of some mountain they climbed once, and Joanna’s most recent school photo (which she no doubt badgered him to put somewhere), then all the photos looped back and it was his mother again.

McCoy stopped snooping and remembered the task at hand. He opened the drawer of the bedside table, and dug around a little, but didn’t see a disc. There was a pad of paper, a pen, various Starfleet pins and ID cards, a charging dock, a jar of various alien currency. He moved everything around, lifted things up, there wasn’t even a disc case in there.

“Huh.” Bones stood up and thought for a second, trying to remember what Chekov had said. He was sure he’d said it was the bedside table on the right side. Well, it wasn’t in there, so he moved around to the other side of the bed and opened the drawer of the left bedside table. He froze.

The drawer was nearly empty. There, right in the middle, next to a box of Kleenex and a rather large bottle of lube was a dildo.

McCoy blinked, but he wasn’t mistaken. It was an honest to god dildo. In Chekov’s drawer.

The thing was glass, long and fairly thin as those things went, rounded and pointed like an egg on one end. A raised line of yellow glass swirled down the length, effectively ribbed, until the thing fattened out and ended in a bobble so it could be held onto when – when -

McCoy slammed the drawer closed and backed away quickly, he headed for the door. He needed to get out of here, he needed to breathe. Then he remembered he still hadn’t found the disk. There would just be more questions if he showed up empty handed. Could he get out of the whole thing, tell Chekov he felt ill or something? But it was the kid’s birthday, could he ruin that just cause he was being as squeamish as a school girl? So he went back to the right-hand drawer and nearly up-ended the contents trying to find the disc. He was grumbling and sweating and leaning in close when he noticed the corner of something round and shiny sticking out from the PAD on top. McCoy picked up the device and right there underneath was the disc, labeled neatly in Chekov’s tidy writing. McCoy cursed and grumbled with the disc in hand all the way to his own quarters.

Chekov had said it was ‘in’ the drawer. He had, hadn’t he? He’d definitely said it was in the right side. But he thought he’d said ‘in’. Or had the ‘on’ just sounded like an ‘in’ in Chekov’s thick accent? God damn it.

McCoy was still flustered when he entered his quarters to find Chekov already sitting on the couch, lights dimmed and popcorn on the table.

“Are you alright? What took you so long?” Chekov asked, half standing.

“Nothing.” Bones grunted, then decided he didn’t want the questions. “I ran into Spock on the way.”

“Ohh.” Chekov said with understanding, and left it at that. Hopefully he didn’t mention anything to the damned Vulcan or he’d be found out.

 

 

It wasn’t that the movie was bad, Bones was just finding it hard to concentrate. He blamed it on Chekov picking a musical, and Bones never watched musicals. He blamed it on Chekov picking a Russian movie, for once making McCoy read the subtitles. He blamed in on the mood lighting and still being stuck in his uncomfortable white shirt for fear of starting to undress. He blamed it on Chekov sitting so damned close to him and his arm stretched lazily out along the back of McCoy’s couch. Did they always sit so they were nearly touching in every way? Now McCoy couldn’t remember if it was normal, but after he’d noticed it, he couldn’t stop. It was because of all the dancing and kissing and sex scenes on the screen. It was because Chekov kept moving along to the music. It was because Pavel kept singing under his breath in that deep breathy way he had when he’d seen something too many times, which, as it turns out, was twice as sexy when he did it in his native language. But it was certainly not because he’d found a sex toy in the kid’s room. Because Bones wasn’t even thinking about that. Not a bit.

He tried to move away a little without uncrossing his legs, and without Chekov noticing. But of course the back of McCoy’s neck rubbed against the arm of Pavel’s sweater and the kid turned his big blue eyes to stare at McCoy in the darkness.

“Do you hate the movie?” he asked.

“No,” McCoy gritted out, noticing too late he’d been frowning. “No, just…” But he didn’t know how to finish that, so he just stopped.

Chekov pulled his arm away so he could better turn to look at Bones. He looked Bones up and down in that quizzical way he usually had for math equations and star charts, like he was trying to solve something.

“Is this about earlier? At the party when I called you Lyonya?”

“Uh.” Bones had completely forgotten about that little embarrassment after the colossal fuck-up he’d committed afterwards. But that sounded safer, he should go with that. “Well, kinda.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to call you that in public.”

“It’s alright, just the smirk on Jim’s face, and I don’t even know what you’re calling me.”

Chekov tilted his head and a let out a huff of laughter. “It’s your nickname.”

“No, I know it’s the name you call me, but I don’t know what it means. Is it like darlin’, or doctor, or hey you ass hole?”

Now Chekov properly laughed. “I should have explained. Lyonya is like Pasha, it’s the Russian nickname of your name.”

“Well, why the hell would I be upset about you calling me my name in public?”

“I don’t know,” Chekov shrugged. “Hikaru doesn’t let me call him Karu-kun in front of anyone else.”

“Karu-kun?” McCoy raised his eyebrows. “I’ll have to remember that one if he gives me any grief.”

“So you’re alright?” Pavel asked.

“I’m fine, Pasha, stop worrying.”

Pavel smiled and went back to the movie, his arm finding its way again to the back of the couch.

 

And Bones was fine. Really, he was okay. So he was a bit skittish of going into the kid’s room for a while, and it was a little awkward being alone together for a couple of weeks, that wasn’t anything. And maybe he ended up touching himself more in the next month than he had in the last decade, it was no big deal. Really, Bones was just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope everyone enjoyed the latest installment. Even though these are all stand-alone pieces, I am going to be building things up in each one, if you read them in order. As always, I don't speak either Russian or Japanese, so if I've got nicknames or anything wrong, I'm sorry, and please let me know so I can correct it. Thanks for reading.
> 
>  
> 
> PS I forgot to mention the musical they're watchinbis called "Stilyagi" its a really great Russian musical, everyone should check it out.


End file.
